By SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
BIRMINGHAM — The Islamic Academy of Alabama has withdrawn its request to relocate to Meadow Brook Office Park in Hoover, citing what school officials say was a biased review process and a surge of anti-Muslim hostility from residents and elected officials.
The decision came days after the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend denial of the school’s conditional-use application. Attorney Lucas Gambino said officials “lost faith” in the city’s ability to evaluate the proposal fairly after a series of new concerns surfaced late in the process.
What began as a routine effort to secure more space quickly drew national attention when U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a frontrunner in the governor’s race, posted that the “only place this Islamic Academy should be moving is OUT OF ALABAMA.” He later called Islam “a cult” and vowed to block Islamic schools if elected. State Rep. Mack Butler echoed his remarks.
School leaders condemned the rhetoric as “inflammatory” and “dangerous,” saying it placed students — some as young as 3 — at risk. The academy requested additional police presence at its Homewood campus and local mosques.
Nearly 200 residents attended Monday’s zoning meeting, many carrying signs opposing the school. Some displayed anti-Muslim messages referencing conspiracy theories about Islam’s presence in America. A petition opposing the move had gathered more than 1,600 signatures.
The school said it had worked with city staff since May, paying for additional traffic studies and meeting repeatedly to address concerns. But new questions from planners arrived just before Thanksgiving, and officials said they received no response before the meeting.
The Islamic Academy, which has operated in Homewood for nearly 30 years and enrolls about 260 students, will now search for a new location. “We’re picking up the pieces and moving on,” Gambino said.